Motor City

[Strobe]

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available) (http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/496)

[hessekopp]

oh yes!
i remember, the german version called OLDTIMER, isnt so?
great game, but a huge size for an old 56k modem download looser like me :cry:

so i have to play my original. LOL

by the way folks!

[Guest_Spike]

Euh... i really love the game... but ehhh...

I haven sold a single car... :help:

Perhaps anyone know of a starters faq, or tutorial???

[Buwwelknurps]

oh, what a great game.. i own the original german version .. :whistle:
i loved it and played it severals times.

[parska]

Originally posted by Guest_Spike@May 11 2005, 11:50 AM
Euh... i really love the game... but ehhh...

I haven sold a single car...* :help:

Perhaps anyone know of a starters faq, or tutorial???
manual can be found here (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=2811) if it helps :bye:

[vicious]

Same thing here!

I've ordered parts, created prototypes, manufactured cars, but nothing is sold!!! I have even built new branches with advertisement but nothing. The manual doesn't seem to say anything about it.

Is there anything else I should build?

[Chris]

You have to sell your cars manually. The last point in your account book "orders" shows all inquiries by dealers and branches from the different regions, sorted by date. You can sell your cars by clicking on these.

[mil0]

I can't even figure out how to manufacture cars. I got all the parts but I don't know how to put them together. I would read the manual but that site is blocked here at work :)

[Chris]

you have to build a research facility and a factory hall, then get some inquiries for parts in your storehouse. you'll need an engine, a chassis and a body (all for one size).

in the left corner of your research facility is a drawer, the 1st drawer is marked "prototypes". here you are able to design new cars by selecting the apropriate parts. when you've done that, your engineer will probably give some hints how to improve the car.

back on the factory grounds right click and select "new production" from the menu. select the factory hall and another guy will appear who asks which car should be built and how the factory should be installed. your only choice is "manual1" here. after that it takes some days to install the needed machines, time enough to order parts and hire some workers (you'll need 80 skilled workers to get your production at 100% capacity usage).

go back to your factory and assign the workers to the production. the information screen shows details about the production's costs and effectivity.

hope i could help. have fun with the game!

:ok:

[Nature Boy]

Wicked! I loved Detroit and can't wait to get into this one. Only thing is, it sounds like this one (like Detroit) will take quite a while to get the hang of. Thanks Abandonia and Bobbin :ok:

[vicious]

Originally posted by Bobbin@May 11 2005, 09:33 PM
You have to sell your cars manually. The last point in your account book "orders" shows all inquiries by dealers and branches from the different regions, sorted by date. You can sell your cars by clicking on these.
Thanks a lot Bobbin for the super fast response!!! :kosta:

[hessekopp]

SORRY FOR THAT , BUT ITS TIME TO PRAY!!!!!
:Brain: :Brain: :Brain: :Brain: :Brain: :Brain:

LET THIS SITE NEVER DIE!!!!!!!!!!!

ONE LOVE!!!! to all of the abandonia members, webmasters and KOSTA!

[hessekopp]

oh sorry , it was my fault, i` say lets pray!!!
:kosta: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta:

YESSSSS.
und deutsche versionen von kyrandia, lure of the tem. und 1889 wären schööööööööööönnn :ok:

gehabt euch wohl.
mehr mehr!!!!!! :cheers:

[teledingo]

How the heck do I get out of test run mode? I built an elementary car and started test driving and ever since I have been on a long, slow boring drive... how do I get back to the factory?!?

[JubJUb]

:help: :help: Hi All


I cant get motor city to work. any ideas?

thanks
:help:

[Chris]

Originally posted by teledingo@May 12 2005, 09:10 AM
How the heck do I get out of test run mode? I built an elementary car and started test driving and ever since I have been on a long, slow boring drive... how do I get back to the factory?!?
hit ESCAPE to get back to the factory

SPACE - one gear up

ENTER - one gear down


the rest is controlled by mouse (steering and accelerating)

[Marek]

Ah cool,
I had a version of this version (?) that was slimmed down, no intro music etc...
Now I can find out what I've been missing out on...

Can't wait to play again this weekend.

I remember figuring out how everything worked, made some cars and sales but I could never get the economic balance quite right,

Maybe now I am a little older and wiser it'll all work out...

Thanx, for a great game... :ok:

[Blaat]

Do you use dosbox?
I never understood this stupid program untill i saw the step by step tutorial here on abandonia. Cuz im a total noob but like to play the classic games im very gratefull to the guys from abandonia.
Many thanks for all the awesome games , u guys rock!
:bye:

[Norab]

Is there anyway to tell what research projects are possible? Even after developing a small/2cyl/15hp, i cant seem to progress farther, the guy balks at whatever i ask him to do? How do you progress farther in research?

[Havell]

I'm having that problem too, I'm the first to admit I don't know that much about cars so can anyone give me some guidelines on what kind of parts you can research, I try and research an engine, selecting numbers of cylinders and horsepower but he always says it's not worth his time, any guidelines?

[Chris]

Originally posted by R Havell@May 13 2005, 06:19 PM
any guidelines?

not really.... new engines etc. become available as time passes by. a look at the "history of car" in your office might help. the game keeps straight to the historical facts.

[Havell]

Also, how many engineers should I employ at the start? About 50?

[Chris]

WAY to many... 5 I'd say.

[laiocfar]

Hi dogs,

I got some problems here with Motor city. The game works well but i cann´t drive in the competitions.... any idea :help:


:sniper:
i like this one

[vicious]

Originally posted by laiocfar@May 13 2005, 10:02 PM
Hi dogs,

I got some problems here with Motor city. The game works well but i cann´t drive in the competitions.... any idea :help:


:sniper:
i like this one
The first thing to do is to allocate some funds for race car research.
Go to your research building and have a look at the 3rd drawer.
There you can indicate how much you want to spend on race cars.
Just bare in mind that the race competitions don't start until 1902 so don't
really bother spending money there before 1901.

[Guest]

what does 'SET UP STORE' do?

[Oldie Goldie]

http://www.mobygames.com/game/motor-city/screenshots

Very good game. Driving Races with your built Oldimters was very funny.

[vicious]

Originally posted by Guest@May 14 2005, 02:50 PM
what does 'SET UP STORE' do?
I think this option is for the multi-purpose buildings: factory & store
If you build one you either select new production or set-up store.
I've never used it though.

[minhtuan]

When I run setup.exe I got "Run time error 200" and TPPATCH cannot solve it. I use Win98SE. Please help. Thank you.

[panos]

very good game - maybe too addictive!

anyway, i have got a problem: all is going well with producing and selling 5 cars, while frequently replenishing the models (good old engineers), BUT after the plane crash which i learn from the newspaper (19xx something) two of my most selling models do not sell a single unit!

i do not understand the logic of it! i first assumed it had to do with open tops, but one of my premium model has open top too, and still sells.

any ideas?

[panos]

just to add to my previous post:

the plane crashes sep 1910 and from oct 1910 my small-engined cars do not sell a unit.


also to reply to some people's questions about research, it all has to do with the year, i.e. at the early stages of the game you cannot develop too powerful motors/chasses.

some combinations that work are:
2 cylinder 10 hp engine + chassis 10 hp
4 cylinder 25 hp engine + chassis 25 hp
6 cylinder 50 hp engine + chassis 50 hp

the engines and the chasses can be combined with different car bodies i.e. open/soft top/hard top or even different categories as small/medium/large, so these three combinations have given me 7+ cars

hope these guidelines help.

[vicious]

Well Pano I had the same problem. I don't really know what's the case but if you wait until early 1912 then the small cars start selling like crazy again! That is until the first world war starts :not_ok:

Another thing to do is have a look at the historic cars in the library. It is very helpfull on which car design sells more each time period.

[Guest]

thank you vicious for your prompt reply - really appreciated!

however i seriously wanted to delete the game as i found it extremely unrealistic to have average sales of 200 units per model per month, while having just released a new small car (i.e. old medium-ranged engine, old medium-ranged chassis, new small-ranged car body) that sells 500+ units per month and then in less than a year suddenly drops to 0.

anyway, just wanted to rant a bit!

[Rob]

Originally posted by Guest@May 18 2005, 05:12 PM
however i seriously wanted to delete the game as i found it extremely unrealistic to have average sales of 200 units per model per month, while having just released a new small car (i.e. old medium-ranged engine, old medium-ranged chassis, new small-ranged car body) that sells 500+ units per month and then in less than a year suddenly drops to 0.
I don't think its unrealistic at all. You need to keep on top of the market. Older models won't be as popular. A simple change of body shape can re-stimulate demand again. I've found that the market is very price sensitive and will keep buying older stuff if you price it right. I'm currently selling 3 premium models (with same chassis & engine, but different bodies) for around $6300 each. To use up a stockpile of engines & chassis from previous models, I'm selling them in a small car configuration for under $3000. Each month I am building new factories because I can't keep up with demand. January 1907 (the most recent month) saw a $2.9 million turnover of which over $2 million is profit. I don't know if that's good, but it would be great if that money was really in my account. LOL

One question I have: How do you find out information about what your competitors are doing? I'd like to know what they're selling and at what price, but can't figure out where to get this information. It will help keep on top of the market.

[Panos]

unfortunately i don't think you can learn anything about competition, par the annual event where you just get the percentage growth of competitors turnover.

i was (and still am) dissapointed with the game's engine, as i used a new body for older parts and witnessed a great demand for it, outselling all my other models put together. the demand keeps rising for a few months then after the airplane accident it suddenly drops to 0, even if i price the models at $200 (to clear my stock), whereas the previous month its price was $3000 and discovered that it could have sold even in the $6000 region.

anyway, enough with my hurt ego!

my car range (before that dreaded month) had one small car @3,000, one medium car @2,000 and three large cars @7,000, 9,000, 12,000. one nice thing i noticed was the interrelation between car prices as the sales of one car could alienate the sales of another car if prices were close enough.

and some advice: do always built the largest factory available as you will quickly end up with no available land space to built otherwise (i was 3/4 full and rapidly building more). also keep a couple of spares too, that can quickly be adjusted to suit different parts demand that may arise. finally, (for the cheeky amongst you) if a building is destroyed by fire, just load that round again - the fire incident is random and will not repeat!

would love to hear more tips from you!

[win98]

you press escape to exit test drive also i can not get the car moving at all is there a way to get the keyboard to be the driving controls all i do is sipn around with the mouse

[Chris]

left mouse button - accelerate
right mouse button - brake
mouse - steering
space - one gear up
enter - one gear down

[Eans]

help. i cant start the game!!!!!!.

[vicious]

You should be more specific on your problem. You cannot run the game under Windows XP. You have to use dosbox. You can find it at the utilities section of this site along with its manual. You may also use VDMS but i had sound problems with that one.

I hope that was of help....

[Guest]

It doesn't work for me either. I click the start icon and the DOS screen comes up for a second, then disappears. The end.

[aerospace]

I can't seem to start a new production. Is there like a minimum to the amount of stock or workers?

[Guest]

Hello guys, I´m from Brazil and love so much te Motor City.

Some questions:

1 - What is the best in Ad? How much % in Magazines, Exposition and Ad Campaign?

2 - I have many problemas to drive my cars and test them. Because when I do left/right with my mouse it gone TOO FAST and I cant control the car.

3 - My configuration to grow up is buy the bodies and study the chassis e engines! What you think?

thanks for all, hugs!

Luiz

[Guest]

Hello, I can't start the game too.
I am skilled in computer science but I've found no methods to start the game, because I can't find the .exe or the .com or the .bat !

I unzip the motorcity.zip in the \CDRIVE folder under the DOSBox installation.
Then, I can see only two .exe files: a setup.exe and a idmas.exe.
In a DOSBox prompt, I launch setup.exe and it works perfectly but it's needed just to setup the sound card.
When I try the idmas.exe it keeps asking me "On which drive you have installed MOTOR CITY? (C,D,E..):".

There is no way to continue, even typing any letter.

I loved Detroit and Motor City, and I'd happy if anyone can kindly help me.
Thanks.

[kix]

type \CDRIVE or C:\CDRIVE or wherever the game is installed. it worked for me.

[kix]

how do you avoid the factories being burned to ground and what do you do if that happens? :blink:

[tinkles]

This game is addictive as crack. I couldn't even pull myself away for a moment. My g/f was nearly kicking my behind out of my chair.

When I first started, I was frustrated just like everyone else, I couldn't figure out how to sell cars & the right process in ordering parts & steps to take to get there. The trick is, be patient and learn the nuances of the game before trying to make a million bucks. I shot myself and started over at least a dozen times.

I have not completed this game yet, no where near it. But I can give good advice for those starting up, I have made a couple million dollars and know how to get there.

When first staring out, don't expect to have serious cash flow from producing 1 model from all supplied parts. Chances are, you aren't going to get a big return. The key early is to diversify products and master a trick that even today is used in autmotive planning & manufacturing called "Just-in Time" delivery. This allows plants that manufacture autos to keep costs controlled, profits higher & lower stocks in warehouses. They ONLY have the parts available at the time they need them. At the end of the month, keep an eye on how many parts you are actually usiing & only keep say, a month of backup of parts you'll need in case of a supplier backorder problem. This way, you can maximize profit fom kepping stock supplies low, but having enough to make the autos at the current capacity. Knowing you factoriess output is key for this; The last column "Used" in the warehouse stock shows this.

When selling your cars, don't try to open too many dealer branches at once; they are costly and you won't get immediate return from the spending or be able to keep up with orders; take them easy and one at a time for awhile when you can afford it. Later on, Opening 2 at once will suffice when you'r producing a few different models. Remember, the more dealer branches you have the more orders you will likely get. And if you can't keep up with demand, well...you'll be missing orders due to shortfall and be bankrupt from high supply costs.

The best way to keep control of your costs of your vehicles and maintain good delivery time is to control prices monthly. If you start to notice your output outgaining your sales, lower your final prices. Just like today, dealer inventories are often flooded and need to be slashed to make room for new models, and a lower price will move them faster. If you find yourself not being able to keep up with orders for a particular vehicle for a short period of time (or while you're building a higher output fatory in the process), raise the cost a little to reduce orders for next month. Your increased profits from losing a few sales will balance out from a slightly higher price; but beware of prices that are out of reach for customers, make sure you can handle all your orders at a reasonable cost or else build a higher output factory, which is a must. Start factories small and numerous and move up to large high-output facilities.

A trick that car companies do to save cost is utilizing underpinings of vehicles and using the same parts across vehicle platforms. For example, all car companies today use the exact same chassis and their subcomponents (or 'platform' if you will) to make many different vehicles with different body styles or brands to increase diversification of their products and market share to customers with different tastes (Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer, and Lincoln Avaitor all share the same platform & many, many parts). For this game, start making small cars with the same platform (Engine, Chassis in this case) and throw a different body on top (open or enclosed). To make it easier on yourself I use a method of letters & numbers for my cars names for their platform size 'A" "B" or "C" and numbers for the models "A1, B2, C3" etc. You may find your own system that works, but when things get complicated and you're supplying 3 countries and require a very high output, knowing your models and their components, what warehouses they output to and what parts they need to be produced is key to not losing track.

Of course, to keep models costs down and supplier delivery problems at bay, you should make your own parts by doing research and building factories that only make parts. Don't try to do this too early on, it won't make much difference in your overall profits and it is very costly to build factories early in the game. Instead later, slowly introduce a more cost-effective model at the same time you're still selling the old mainly supplier-manufactured model and SLOWLY transition; factory changes are VERY expensive and don't try to convert more than 1 or 2 at a time and do a compltete changeover in a month. Even today in real maunfactirng this is a slow, drawn-out process. That's why in dealer lots today, you'll see an old body style with the same build year as one with a new one. It takes time for factories to transition, and supplier parts on warehouses need to be used up & dealer * supplier orders ramped down. If you have to produce a car that has the chassis and engine built with a supplied body, don't worry; later on you may build a few cars that you make all the parts for (which does NOT happen today). Remember, long-term low-cost process capabilty and high output are the keys to profitibilty.

If you need more help inquire.

tinkles


P.S. Does anyone know when I can used "unskilled" workers?

[PrejudiceSucks]

For building parts I believe, but I'm not entirely sure.

[tinkles]

Yeah I dunno. I thought maybe later on once your part factories are really streamlined, like after 1912 or so they might come into use.

[PrejudiceSucks]

That or loading stuff onto trains. How the hell does that work, anyways?

[tinkles]

Yeah he only thing the shipping dock even does (which is weird, I dunno how you ship anything without it) is reduce oreder time from 7 to 3 days.

Certainly not worth the cost at the beginning of the game, that's for sure.

[PrejudiceSucks]

Nah, they're really expensive...

[Guest]

kix, thank you for your reply.
It almoust worked.
But still I can't start the game.
I type IDMAS and the screen becomes black, sometimes there are some coloured lines.

In the setup I use no sound cards and I have Windows XP.
Do you all here use Win XP?

I tried quite everything.
I can't wait to play the old Motorcity!

[tinkles]

Stick to DoSBOX. And run that sucker in a full window...fiddle with the sound setup options until it works with something (AWE 32, Adlib, Soundblaser, etc.)

Finally figured out that Unskilled workers can be used with the New Assmebly line Production option after I think 1911.

In high-output factories, assmebly line production was basically the move out of 5 guys putting a car togther surrounded by parts. If you have vehicles that you're selling alot of (more than 100/month) I'd pay the price and convert.

[Guest]

Thank you tinkles.
Your advice didn't work but I switched to a second Win XP computer and now it runs!

If I remember my old strategies I'll post them here.
In any case, I think you wrote a pretty interesting starting guide...

Thank you, bye.

[Desmo]

Hello after a long long time I´ve played Oldtimer again and found myself with the same questions I´ve had nearly a decade before:
- How does advertising work?
I suppose that Newspapers are for cheap (ca.2000$) and exhibitions for expensive cars but I´ve never noticed any significant chancge in sales after changing the amount or distribution of money spent for ads.
How much should you spend (amount and %) ?

- Does anyone "find" new engines after ca. 1912?
The biggest one I´ve found is a 6 cyl 48 PS and if I read the save file correctly
that is the biggest one in the whole game?!
- Can you mix for example a small engine with a medium chassis?

P.S. Unskilled Workers are a substitute for the skilled workers after you´ve installed the Assembly Line in ca. 1910.

[Guest]

I wonder since my early childhood (my brother gave it (in German) to me when I was 8 and I played it for hours on my good ole 486DX, but never got too far (the best I ever had was I think 1905, after that I went bankrupt because my production halls where too far away from the halls with the parts in them (I didn't even know that that plays a role) and suddenly wheren't supplied any more) what the subtitle means... in German, it reads "Erlebte Geschichte Teil II", so I wonder if there ever was a first part of the series.
PS:I'm from Germany, sorry for bad English

[d300mhz]

Help!

It's 1922, and I can't develope an engine with horsepower greater than 48. None of my car's are selling anymore, and I believe it's because they don't have enough power. I've tried every combination of engine research possible, and even tried to order someone else's engines but to no avail.

If you can help me out, I'll owe you one! :kosta:

Thanks.

[Guest]

To d300mhz

There´s a bug in the game not allowing you to develop or order any engine above the 6 cyl 48 hp engine available in 1903.
If you are capable of german language - there´s a german version called "Oldtimer" somewhere in the net without the bug.

[d300mhz]

Originally posted by Guest@Oct 10 2005, 10:17 AM
To d300mhz

There´s a bug in the game not allowing you to develop or order any engine above the 6 cyl 48 hp engine available in 1903.
If you are capable of german language - there´s a german version called "Oldtimer" somewhere in the net without the bug.
Thanks guest!

Look's like I'll have to learn German. It's too bad that one little bug prettty much ruin's an otherwise amazing game.

[laiocfar]

There´s a bug in the game not allowing you to develop or order any engine above the 6 cyl 48 hp engine available in 1903.
If you are capable of german language - there´s a german version called "Oldtimer" somewhere in the net without the bug.

I KNOW IT :ranting: ....well, i didn´t knowing but i was only changing the body and chasis but always the same motors, thanks to spread the word and these somewhere in the net are cofcofunderdogscof LOL

[Remi]

Hello!
My problem in Motor City is different like Urs all. When I try start the production I have big problem. The problem are materials. when I want to produce enginee for example I can`t because I have not enought steel! When I try produce car I cant because I have no parts! Ok I can understand no parts no car, but to have parts I must even to produce them...But how to produce without materials like steel or rubber. Where to get that materials?? Pls help!

[laiocfar]

U must first buy the store and set up it, when u have done this last, u click over it and u will talk to a guy, select the option of get offer of parts, as u must know in motor city the cars got a motor, a body and a chasis.
For your first car u may use "imported" parts, beacause it´s takes too much time for denvelope new parts and too much money to produce them, u will run off of money if not do as i say. Tell me if u got another problem :cheers:

[cptgone]

Originally posted by vicious+May 14 2005, 02:08 PM****</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (vicious @ May 14 2005, 02:08 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> ******QuoteBegin-laiocfar@May 13 2005, 10:02 PM
Hi dogs,

I got some problems here with Motor city. The game works well but i cann´t drive in the competitions.... any idea :help:


:sniper:
i like this one
The first thing to do is to allocate some funds for race car research.
Go to your research building and have a look at the 3rd drawer.
There you can indicate how much you want to spend on race cars.
Just bare in mind that the race competitions don't start until 1902 so don't
really bother spending money there before 1901. [/b][/quote]
I only find some 'dirty' pictures there... Their names appear as I hover them, but clicking doesn't seem to do anything. Anyway, the races (and test rides) are no fun, maybe my PC is too fast?

[laiocfar]

I only find some 'dirty' pictures there... Their names appear as I hover them, but clicking doesn't seem to do anything. Anyway, the races (and test rides) are no fun, maybe my PC is too fast?

If was by your oc speed u will get that the race are so fast that end in some secs but u have to see them anyway

[GunshySlycat1]

Looks sweet.. I'm downloading it. I hope it works! Looks quite interesting.. I'll edit this post after I played the game some to add more to the post.

[Pelikán]

Is anybody here, who survived first world war? I survived it once and tried to sell my old cars just for only 100$ but no luck ( number 100 is right ). I needed a little money to just start again, but no way.

[laiocfar]

I survived and designed a model each year but the problem are the production lines, u need to get to the 1st WW with enough money to support the economy straving and it will get worst in 1929. good luck and continue trying :ok:

[Pelikán]

OK. I'll try. The game ends in 1930. Am I right?

[laiocfar]

In late 1930 u got a new that says that the economic crisis for autobuilders has ended and voila... the highscores :bye:

[Pelikán]

Thanks

[laiocfar]

I forgot some details:
In 1922 there will be a big crisis for automotor industry, really BIG.
In the 1stWW the problem is that u lose the enemies markets so choose a country of allies cuz u only will lose two markerts + war destruction. The real problem by 1915, it´s that u need bigger motors but by a bug i english version u can´t desing them.
Denvelope many motors by 1912 of 6 cilinders and 25HP to 50HP, there are to be your only motors for rest of game. Cars without speed don´t, 13000 pieces of my model 15´ was sold by 1$ cuz it was too slow.

[Gunpad Mclaude]

:help: ok here is a problem, i got a reaserch facilety, and a factory thing but the storage guy want let me store any other things than small cars, and i dont know how to get the factory making cars!!! :cry: :ranting: :help:

plz help me

* im not english sorry for the bad english. *

[Guest]

:blink: add to my last message,

does anyone knows if there is a step by step tutorial or something?

if anyone culd give me a link i wuld :kosta: to you

[Gunpad Mclaude]

:blink: add to my last message,

does anyone knows if there is a step by step tutorial or something?

if anyone culd give me a link i wuld :kosta: to you

[laiocfar]

Can u repeat your answer, i didn´t get it, if better for u poast in spanish or french

[Guest]

Hey culd anone Help me here :blink: :help:

i need some sort of step by step, thing...

or a walktrough

cuz im :crazy: about this game.
Thank u

[jeppe93]

Oh man... i agree with this guy i really need some sort of...
walktrough...

but i quess thats kinda cheating,
but i culd use on anyway.


until next time :bye:

[laiocfar]

Walktrough for what??? maybe i could help u :max:

[jeppe93]

:crazy:
i need a walktrough for motor city, it shuld say something about how you avoid loosing all ure money very early in the game, cuz that just keep happening to me.
maybe some sortof step by step walkthrough, to get you into the game.

until nexst time :bye:

[laiocfar]

Well, lets see...
Firstly u start with the administration (adm) and a small storage area(stg), u have to build a factory and a resarch center(RC). Build the cheapers in both, maybe u can try a bigger factory but it will cost u more than u got..... Well remember that the building period it´s in weeks and each turn are 4 weeks, so u must first start the RC cuz it takes more weeks than the factory.
Before u get then done, u must make a right click, chose to set up store and click the stg. U also have ask the guy inside the stg to get offers for a small car´s open body, a small car´s motor of 1 cylinder and 5 hp and a small car´s chasis for 5 hp. U will get msg that says that he got the desings. U have to go to the stg, see the models, accept then?(i am not sure about this ponit), and make a storage of them.
When finished the buildings, go ot RC, inside to the sparedrawer(right of the guys) , select prototypes, new model. Set the chasis, motor and body that the guy in the stg looked for. Give it a name.
right click, set new production, click the factory, cars production, select the car that u just designed, lets see the posibilities, u only got Manual-I, set the max of lines of production, select the stg as store and accept.
Go to the adm, to personel area, recruit, i am looking for skilled workers, the guy here tells u how many do u need to fit the factory but u can employ less or more, anyway employ the number of people that he told u, accept(if u don´t say to him that it´s okay, he will not do something).
When the people and the factory are ready, u will start build u first car :w00t: . Anyway u still got to sell them. Look for got enough part in the stg.
To sell that cars u have to place them to sale. For this, u must click the map inside the adm, chose the branch in your home city and place the car in the slot and set a reasonable price (default price is 1$). U also can set advertisements. Manage the prices according to production. The first car can be sold by near 8 years, a normal car can be in market for 5 years and a top one can hold by near 10.
By employing enginiers u can desing your own parts. And your fisrt own all designed car!!!
Frrm the map in the adm u also can build new branches.
Some usefull tips :D :
-Choose as start country one of the allies during the first WW. The bigger markets are France and Germany, little behind it´s England and Italy, Austria come last.
-When spanding only build braches to contact auto dealears in that country, u will not make bussines from sell your cars in your branches in all the nation. A branch for France, a branch fro Germany, a Branch for Belgium., etc. No more that a branch by country.
-There´s a bug in the game not allowing you to develop or order any engine above the 6 cyl 48 hp engine available in 1903. So u cann´t offer a market a top class car every year. Your new models must be always a little faster. So first desing the heviest car and with the same motor make lighter cars.
-A train station resolves all deliver problems.
-Have one eye on your stocks of stell, glass and rubber.
-Have empty buildings for cover fire damage.
-The game ends in 1930.
-If u choose to make aa race model, u will win always the races. Why? :sneaky: there are problem when u drive the car, the game is too fast and u turn very, very fast. U must make your way stucking against the side of the road, turning, stucking against the other side of the road, turning, stucking against the other side of the road, turning, stucking against the other side of the road, turning, etc. Anyway the time from the rivals it´s a joke!!! u always win.
-Better production ways means more cheapers cars, so u have to sold the to more markets and better prices.
-By the mentioned bug, u have to make MONEY before 1910.... In 1914, WWI, u will got your markets options reduced and la little recesion; in 1922, there a a crisis for the automovile industries that end in 1930; in 1920, u really NEED a new motor.

Sorry by bad english!!!

[jeppe93]

:D

Thx Man ure the best! :angel:
:tnx:

until nexst time :bye:

[yuckhil]

- Anybody know where to find the German version sans the bug that limits the game to 6cyl 50HP machines?

[laiocfar]

The underdogs got many games in deucht

[Dooky]

Hmmm for anyone who still has problems in winXP and doesnt want to use DOSbox,.... I fixed it,... at least some part i played it on holiday in spain on my laptop and the build-in speakers are realy bad so i didn't install any sound drivers. but when you want to play whitout dosbox you have to enable your EMS memory. for that you access "Properties" from the IDMAS.EXE en go to "Memory" give it some EMS space i have 10240 or something like that. than just run IDMAS.EXE it worked for me.

I just started playing this game today and i realy love it. it a so simple game but the posibilties are enormous. Big it up for Max Design :ok:

later and have fun playing

[Jsobre]

Well, hello. I'm here to ask you for some help. I played this game for two days and
i find that i can't research all engines i want. My question is: Anybody have a list of the engines that can be researched?

And were can I find Oldtimer (German version of Motor City)?

Thanks in advance. :ok:

Jsobre

[laiocfar]

look in this topic there is a bug that prevents the denvelopment of motors :cry:

[win98]

Yeah it is so annoying.

[Dr. Evil]

Originally posted by Guest@May 28 2005, 01:31 AM
It doesn't work for me either. I click the start icon and the DOS screen comes up for a second, then disappears. The end.
I found that to start it in dos....i just set it to win95 emulation and then set the memmory to 2440 or something like that.....then it's really happy...the old programs want you to tell them what to do.......only problem is when i do test drives everything moves so fast i can't stear

[Shiriken]

Cant get the dam game to work.

Tryed abouth everything now... i think.

Tryed to make it com. with winxp, opend it in dos trying to run it there : No EMS driver found! Please make sure that an EMS driver will be init in your config.sys file i.e.:

Device=C:\dos\emm386.exe ram 2048

I realy want to play the game hehe love Detroit.

[Shrek]

Originally posted by Shiriken+Mar 24 2006, 12:38 PM****</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Shiriken @ Mar 24 2006, 12:38 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Cant get the dam game to work.


Tryed abouth everything now... i think.

Tryed to make it com. with winxp, opend it in dos trying to run it there : No EMS driver found! Please make sure that an EMS driver will be init in your config.sys file i.e.:

Device=C:\dos\emm386.exe ram 2048

I realy want to play the game hehe love Detroit.[/b]
Have you tried this?:
******QuoteBegin-Dooky@Dec 30 2005, 09:53 PM
Hmmm for anyone who still has problems in winXP and doesnt want to use DOSbox,....* I fixed it,... at least some part i played it on holiday in spain on my laptop and the build-in speakers are realy bad so i didn't install any sound drivers. but when you want to play whitout dosbox you have to enable your EMS memory.* for that you access "Properties" from the IDMAS.EXE en go to "Memory" give it some EMS space * i have 10240 or something like that. than just* run IDMAS.EXE* it worked for me.

I just started playing this game today and i realy love it. it a so simple game but the posibilties are enormous. Big it up for Max Design* :ok:*

later and have fun playing[/quote]

[Guest]

Nobody to find the german version called "Oldtimer"??? :cry:

[Guest]

Hiya, Could anyone help me with some sound setup issues please?

I can get the game to work with just music.

But to setup the sound, you need to tell it the DMA and IRQ. Unfortunatly, on my PC the IRQ is 16, and the game only lets me choose from 0 to 4.

Im hoping i can find a way around this without removing my sound card and putting it in a different PCI slot.

Thanks in advance!

p.s. i tried editting the .cfg files but they are all in a strange code so i cant edit them properly.

[Guest]

hmmmm actually i meant DMA. Its my DMA which is 16 and it only gives me 0 to 4 (or 5?) as an option.

All other games work in dosbox. The dosbox config file says its 220/7/1 but when i look in hardware manager, it says the DMA is 16 not 1.

[win98]

Dos emulates it so use dos box's settings it will still work.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Indeed. DosBox has its own emulated settings that don't have to match with the ones your hardware manager has.

[Magic]

Hello folks,

does anybody knows a link for the german motor city version called "oldtimer"?

Thx

[win98]

Funny that. Everyones asked for one but no people have found any.

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies! I notice my settings in DOSBOX seem ok, but i still can't get it to work :(

I will keep trying tho, now that i know dosbox can emulate it. I'll try changing them and seeing if the game can recognise it. I am also having exactly the same problem with "Blood". Strangely, i have several other dos games that work fine in dosbox with sound.

p.s.
Does anyone know a way to get around the bug where you cant buy or make high powered engines after 1903 (or whenever)?

[Guest]

WOOHOO!!!!! I love you guys :) Thanks alot for the help.

I learn something new every day.... and when its something about gaming or dosgames... thats very rare.

But you where all right about dosbox. I changed the settings in my dosbox config to 222/5/1 and when i set that up in the sound setup, it worked :D

Im really happy about that because i love dosbox, and now i know i can get sound working on the games that struggle, im set. I have quite alot of dos games and now they all work perfectly for me :)


P.S.

If anyone knows how to avoid that engines bug in Motor City, please let me know.

[win98]

Thats great news! :cheers:

[Guest]

I honestly got the german CD version here. together with the original manual (hardcover book) found it in the basement this morning.

Can anyone tell me how to submit it ?


BRGDS
Casey

[Sebatianos]

Sorry to tell you this, but the chances of the German version of the game to the site are very slim. Maybe the manual (if it's multilingual).

[win98]

The problem is that is not in english and/or does not include muti language. If it was in English German and a few other launguges which were built in to oldtimer then it could go up.

[Chris]

Some scans of the manual's cover / cd / box would be great. There are a lot of other not english scans on the site and these would be better than nothing.

[win98]

I agree that would be a good idea. :ok:

[Jia Wen]

Is there like a manual or something because I don't like know how to sell the cars or which parts to get coz when i try to get offers for spare parts i have to go through everything to find which stuff the guy will look for. :cry:

[laiocfar]

Go back to post 5 of page 6 from this topic...
he is a real genius :tomato:

[win98]

The manuel should be on the game page

[marvin81]

Originally posted by Sebatianos@Apr 15 2006, 04:11 PM
Sorry to tell you this, but the chances of the German version of the game to the site are very slim. Maybe the manual (if it's multilingual).
I thought, there is a bug in the english version, that u cant build greater cars after a special year. Not sure about the exact date.

Is that right?

The german version should be bug-free! ;)

Cheers

[win98]

About 1920 or world war 1.

[laiocfar]

The german version is bug free and the bug of the english one dont let you denvelope motors before 1903 so in 1914, you get the WWI and your new model still using and old year 3 motor.

[win98]

Yeah the german version is bug free I knew that.

[laiocfar]

And where find one(german version)?
Last that i know was in the forbidden warez site.

[win98]

Since when is oldtimer warez.

[Registered Member]

I'm using Dos Box with this game and all is well until I try to build a store or start a new production. When I click either or nothing happens. I need to get a factory built or else I can't make any progrss with this game. I can build new halls but nothing else.

I'm bummed... :huh:

[win98]

Ok If you build a production hall after ordering parts to use since you will run out of monry making your own you can stock your order of a chaiss engine body and then make a new car after building a reasearch centure as well desgining it enmploying engineers then skilled workers for the reasaerch centure and the proudctiuon hall and then right click the production hall then select new production.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Since when is oldtimer warez.
It's not, but the site Laiocfar mentioned is hosting a number of warez titles, so I had to remove the link.

[win98]

I have noticed that if you do to well at the start of the game your factory burns down when you are peak.

[laiocfar]

Got extra halls for a fire emergency is a good idea.

[win98]

I forgot to tell you I knew I would get a fire since I was doing so well I had made a second unused factory. Strange thing is that the fire never came since I had two and I was earning $50000 a month. :blink:

[GuestSTAHR]

Allright, this seems like one of them games I could have spent months in front of a few years back and late nights in front of today... but I have one problem.

The only orders I seem to get are waay below my break even point per car. So I run out of money very fast! :titan:

Even if I set the price to say $1300 per car, I only get paid that for say five cars a month! The rest usually want around $1040-$1080 per car. Which results in a loss per sold car of about $260... not a financially sound way of doing business...

Hoping to see some hints!

Oh, and thanks for an awesome site! So much easier to browse through than some of the other abandonware sites out there, no names dropped...
Only the best games seem good enough for abandonia, just like it should be! ^_^

[laiocfar]

i make some kind of startup guide in the page 6 of this topic, but you should can sell your cars between $10.000 and $4.000. Anyway, you should say in wich markets and what cars for future help.

[win98]

Same thing happens to me only dealers pay the ful lrpise branchs you own get em cheaper.

[deVily]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(laiocfar @ Apr 21 2006, 06:58 AM) 224510</div>
And where find one(german version)?
Last that i know was in the forbidden warez site.
[/b]
I have found Oldtimer on this sites

http://www.amiga.hu/amigos/ancientoys/archive.html and
http://www.planetemu.net

But.. there is the problem (offcourse)... It's Amiga version in ADF Format, you will need
some Amiga emulator like WinUAE...But there is another problem...you don't get rom file...and
it may be difficult to find it...

[laiocfar]

I dont know how to manage branches... with the dealers you make the big money, i never build more than one brach per country. I tried everything but is expensive to got branches empires and when the production isnt automated or the city is small or the sales go down for a few months, your loses come back multiplied.

[win98]

The easiest way is just to focus on cars until you have good ones then branchs are second.

[laiocfar]

Sure thing

[win98]

Im gonna play this is a sec I think.

[Guest]

Hi guys!

I've read all of your comments - that took some minutes but it is nothing to the time a spend trying make it work! Nothing worked whatever I did.
I downloaded it and also DOSBox 0.65, but I don't know how to use DOSBox.
Can anyone plz!! help me what I should do????
I unpacked it here: D:\DOSBox-0.65\MotorCity

greetz Die_gO

/sry 4 my bad english!
/u can answer in english or in german

[laiocfar]

Look for the use guide that the site got for dosbox.

[chewychompy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(teledingo @ May 12 2005, 07:10 AM) 106563</div>
How the heck do I get out of test run mode? I built an elementary car and started test driving and ever since I have been on a long, slow boring drive... how do I get back to the factory?!?
[/b]


Hit escape.

[Chewychompy]

Hi everyone,

I tried tracking Max Design down to see if they would do anything with the game.

I really love this game, its great.

I think it could be so much more if they started working on it again.

I sent them an email asking them about the game.

http://support.sunflowers.de/index.php?_a=...mp;_i=LOU-76391 (http://support.sunflowers.de/index.php?_a=tickets&_m=viewmain&emailre=chewychompy@gmail.com&ticketkeyre=b2843e&_i=LOU-76391)

What suprised me was the lack of anything on Wikipedia!

[Guest]

Well i saw all of the posts before but still can't start production.
If i start with whole car prod, i can't make them cause i have to build parts first. If i start with part prod first, i can't build anything cause of steel shortage...
Help anyone pls! :sos:

[laiocfar]

For first car you should import parts!!!!
Go to storage and select "get offer of parts". Later select an empty slot, it says "empty" and chose to fill it with chasis/motor/body from the parts that you got, by entering an number near the part name you will place order to import them. Dont waste all ytour money in that. You need it to buy the 3 things, body, chasis and motor + build a factory and pay workers.

[cK]

Hi Guys,

as far as I experienced the German version is NOT bug-free. I have the problem that the game exits typically sometime between 1905 and 1920. After spending a lot of time trying old savegames I think that it happens when a certain (large) amount of cars is sold in one month or in total.

I remember that I got the same bug on my 486DX ten years ago and didn't play the game since then but it's still really intriguing!

So has anyone else experienced this bug? Does it happen in the English version too? The only work-around I found to complete the game is to stop selling cars, cut down all expenses and click "next turn" until 1930 :-(. I would really like to just have the cannot-develop-more-engines-bug ;-).

cK

[laiocfar]

you forgot to descrive the bug!!!

[Guest]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cK @ Aug 24 2006, 04:58 PM) 250767</div>the game exits[/b]
It simply exits ;-). No error-message. Nothing.

cK

[laiocfar]

very philosofic :O

[tinkles]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jia Wen @ Apr 18 2006, 04:47 AM) 223259</div>
Is there like a manual or something because I don't like know how to sell the cars or which parts to get coz when i try to get offers for spare parts i have to go through everything to find which stuff the guy will look for. :cry:
[/b]


Jia,

And for those that are having trouble making moolah:

I broke this game out again a couple of days ago. Some of you may have read my last post from '05 where I wrorte a whole page dedicated to the strategy of the business.

I stand by my first post. You have to look at the game like any business - your job is to basically make money. Buy low. Sell High. Take educated risks for big retun; diversify, diversify, diversify and be flexible. Nothing more could be true in this game.

I have never made it all the way through the game, as I spend a lot of time honing the years around the start of WWI for maximum profitablitiy before the crash. If you know your history you know who was attacking who in the region and can benefit from knowing. I have made myself a big time millionaire just from using the simplest startegy I can think of...CONTROL YOUR COSTS.

For example: the game doesn't do a great job tracking information from month to month, year to year; you will notice there's no overall sales queue or anything like that, it's only tracked by the month. There is a Profit/Loss section in your account book but that all goes away after Dec. 31. My suggestion is to keep track of your sales month-by month; see where you are as far as the part output to where you're only making enough vehicles to sell...don't get yourself caught in a huge stockpile of cars and not be able to sell them - you must make them only as you need them, keeping only a safe amount (say 1 1/2-2 months supply) in your stock to ensure good profitablity. In your logbook it lists your cars in stock as assests; this is correct if you had to sell your business and everything has a "value;" but how much have you spent in labor & manufacturing on those cars? I'm in the car business myself and products collecting dust on your shelves that aren't moving are a liabilty and not an assest in that sense. Make only what you need. Watch your supply. Don't en masse a huge stockpile of engines and chassis expecting to sell them off later unless you've saved the game and you're absolutely sure they'll sell with a new body or other config. After all, how much did it cost you to make all those parts?

I made more than 17 million bucks selling not 5 but 1 car - concentrating on keeping labor costs down by shifting around your manufacturing - keep an eye on your sales to ensure you're only making what you need and keeping up in case there's a sales spike (which happens periodically.) Big, huge factories are VERY expensive and I reccommend you wait as long as your can without building them. After all, if you can utilize several small medium-sized factories then do so.

Slashing the costs of your cars will not make you any more money, it will only move them off your stockpiles faster. Price your cars somewhere in the range of a healthy profit after studying how much they cost to make (usually $500-$2500 to make) and work from there. If you have a specialty car (say, a 2-seat sporty car) that you only want to sell in small volumes to keep demand high, don't price it too low. After all, a lucrative product demands a higher price.
I'm still investigating on whether the game takes into account the body style and how much demnd there is from style to style (Say Hard tops of differing look). I know that there is a "build quality" moniker on the part description page the author no doubt buried a variable in the code there to affect how well the car sells. This is my guess, BTW.

I noticed I found an easy method to keep traack of part stocks month to month is keep your supplies stock (i.e. chassis, engines) in one warehouse and your product to sell (finished goods) in another to see how much they move month to month. This way you don't have supplies all over the place when trying to figure out why you have a delivery problem.

When you sell your cars, don't be afraid of being behind too much; if you can't make orders for that month don't worry if you're a few short. Step up your factories' speed (I.e. SLOW, NORMAL, FAST, INHUMAN, etc.) to compensate. I am still waiting to see if there are any reprocutions for working your employees to the bone (INHUMAN) but I have yet to see it. It is a good idea to watch your sales carefully, as it is the number one reason you are in the business. If you have a slump figure out if it's just the environment (i.e. WW1) or if the model has lagged behind and needs a freshening (an industry term). Throw a new body on it and see if your sales pick up. In the meantime, stop factories; lay off some workers; factories and labor cost money and hurt your bottom line. Remember: long-term profitablity lies in controlling your costs month to month with steady growth, not expecting a huge profit on a hot model. You can sell cars all day and not make any money if you don't control your spending.

If anyone needs any further help let me know!

tinkles

[Guest]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JubJUb @ May 12 2005, 09:56 AM) 106594</div>
:help: :help: Hi All


I cant get motor city to work. any ideas?

thanks
:help:
[/b]
use dos - box for this game. Work perfectly on xp pro with sound. Set speed around 22000-26000 frames

[Nando]

Who play the game until the year 1950 or somethin "close" to OUR DAYS ? :blink:

and ... how are the Racing competitions ? somebody here participate in one ?

i download the game 10 minutes ago.

[win98]

I heard a rmoour on another fourm thgat someone got to 1957 then they went bankrupt cause they couldent sell enough cars.

[Distra]

hi there guys
i can say tnx 2 the guys that are keeping this page running

thats a very nice game
but i have a problem i cant start it :P

well u see i have windows xp ok ?
so i click the IDMAS.exe or SETUP.exe and run me on dos
thats ok so far
then it tells me in which drive is my game and say so
and then it desapiar :S
and from then on i cant use nothing 2 run it

some 1 help me out pls thnx

[The Fifth Horseman]

This question has been asked ten thousand times before. The answer is always the same:
Use DosBox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net). Or VDMSound. Whichever works better on your system.
You can get them from our programs page (http://www.abandonia.com/main.php?nav=programs).

[laiocfar]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(win98 @ Oct 5 2006, 03:59 PM) 259644</div>
I heard a rmoour on another fourm thgat someone got to 1957 then they went bankrupt cause they couldent sell enough cars.
[/b]

The game doenst last to 1957 :bleh:

[win98]

Stupid guy tricking me.

[comletebald]

Hi all,
anyone know what loading bay is for? The guy there says that all orders are delivered within 3 days. First I thought that it takes care of the tedious work of selling cars manually, but it doesn't seem so.

[laiocfar]

The loading bay makes quicker the deliver time and avoid any delivering problems. I dont known if more loading bays reduces the waiting more but there are luxury items to me.

[Guest]

ok n00b question time. ive read through the manual and it says at the start of the game I should build a Research Department. how do i do this? i know how to build the hall

[Guest]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Guest @ Nov 24 2006, 11:06 AM) 268553</div>
ok n00b question time. ive read through the manual and it says at the start of the game I should build a Research Department. how do i do this? i know how to build the hall
[/b]

bahahahah typical. i just noticed the little arrows. MY BAD

[guest]

Do you have to use dosbox for win98?

[win98]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(guest @ Dec 3 2006, 07:28 AM) 269849</div>
Do you have to use dosbox for win98?
[/b]
No not unless it is a very powerfull pc then you may need to.

[Guest_alex_*]

:kosta: first of all, i must say thanks for everybody here, still supporting this old game's topic, this is a REALLY fantastic game. Love it! i had been looking around for some forum/post about this game, i can't find anything most of the time and at last i find this place today :w00t: nice to meet everybody who play this game here

i had spend my last couple of months on this game, have a few comments and questions about this game :

- the biggest problem / bug is , researchable engine is limited to v6 50HP, i think a few other post had mentioned about this already before. Did anyone tried the german version and was able to research more power engines? if yes, is there anywhere to download the german verion now? many many thanks for that

- financially .... i think it is ok to create a LOT of money by creating different model and mass produce new car with new body and old engine. But somehow when the game think v6 50HP engine is too old and no one is going to buy them, nothing sell afterwards ...

- did this game sells good when it released before? I mean in term of the content of the game, player can research, create, drive, manage, race and also with nice old car pictures. It's a nice piece of things to sell but the company haven't create a new version of it. I played the online one, which is ok but it's totally different to this one (in fact i play the motorcity online before i know there is a dos version of it). sometimes i feel like old games are more "playable" in terms of contents inside the game, and computer games nowadays focus only on graphics most of the time ...

talk to you guys shortly.

[Guest]

Hi, i have some questions...

v6 50hp? i never get to this.. when im over the 25hp engines its too boring to try to get the perfect mach between "model/cilinders/hp", i did it with the 25hp engine until 1924.. then.. the game says im in the hall of fame or something similar, a small video and game over !!! where are the "moder times" ?!?!??!

i get to over 100.000.000 in 1918/19, then there is no way to sell a single car... doesnt matter wich engine/chasis/body you get.. on 1922 i did it to get orders for a $500 car (lot under his price of 1200 to manufacture it) i fired every worker to try to get to the 50' with money to build "something" but the game stops on 1924..

is it ok?

[jeppe93]

Does anyone know, whats with the naked pics in the drawer thingy... wierd to put it in a car game...

[win98]

Yeah I know I never thought about that. Must be a way of saying the guy you are likes women hmm.

[Guest]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Guest @ Oct 6 2005, 10:55 PM) 165537</div>
I wonder since my early childhood (my brother gave it (in German) to me when I was 8 and I played it for hours on my good ole 486DX, but never got too far (the best I ever had was I think 1905, after that I went bankrupt because my production halls where too far away from the halls with the parts in them (I didn't even know that that plays a role) and suddenly wheren't supplied any more) what the subtitle means... in German, it reads "Erlebte Geschichte Teil II", so I wonder if there ever was a first part of the series.
PS:I'm from Germany, sorry for bad English
[/b]

A bit late, but I can answer this one; seems that Max Design had a historical educational series. Part I was: 1869: Erlebte Geschichte Teil I

Bought Motor City new in 1995 for my 486DX-4 100. Always hated codes in old games (for which you always needed the manual), so I prefer cracked abandonware :huh:

Anyway, started playing again. Nice to play during the Holidays :cool:

[Office_Monk]

^^^^whoops, that was me...

[Dramo]

I'm experiencing some problems with it already...

It doesn't work.

Whenever I click on the icon I do believe is the actual game icon nothing happens. does it have anything to do with my OS or something? I use XP.

[win98]

You will need to get dosbox to run the game in Windows XP. Goto Abandonia's home page and goto the utilitys section it should be there.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Use DosBox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net) to run the game. You can download it here (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1).

You might want to check out the official DosBox FAQ (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php), and particularly this part of it. (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=Basic+Setup+and+Installation+of+Dos Box) It is quite helpful for users unfamiliar with DosBox.

I suggest you also read the pages about command line (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=CommandLine), internal programs (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=Internal+Programs) (very important!) and the config file (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=dosbox.conf).

If that stuff is a bit too much for you, you might consider using one of the multiple frontend programs (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?page=DOSBoxFrontends) available.

It's all easier then it seems. So remember:
DON'T PANIC!!! ^_^

[Guest]

I tried, putting the folder in F:\DOSBoxgames then mounting DOSBox to 'mount f F:\Dosboxgames' I then typed 'F:' then 'cd MotorCity' (I removed the space). It said 'Unable to change to: MotorCity'

Help!

[_r.u.s.s.]

the name MotorCity is too long for dos, change its name to shorter one or type 'cd motorc~1'

[Guest]

Thanks alot.

[Guest]

Everything goes smoothly, I get stock, I make a prototype, but once production has started, as soon as the parts are installed it keeps saying that 'there are not enough parts available'. Isn't it meant to re-order automatically?

[Guest]

I found out what to do there, and I produced about 70 cars (5hp small and open top, 1 cylinder.) I don't sell a single one, and I check the 'orders' screen every other turn. What should the price be? And do I have to build a loading point?

[laiocfar]

Already posted a walkthroug to the first car in this thread, search back.

[Guest]

I sell the cars for $8000 each. I don't sell any so I lower to $7000. I even fail to sell at $100!

[laiocfar]

HEAR WHAT I SAID!!!!
cooling down.....
....
....
pacific again:
my dear, check post #107 and #80. They are the sencond one on page 8 and the 5th one on page 6. If you still got problems, post a lomg enough exlanation of them to let me aid you.
Yours, Leo

[Guest]

Yeah, that was what you said - between 4,000 and 10,000. Anyway I'm fine now.

[Guest]

anybody know of any games like this in development at the moment? Or maybe an alternative (anything other than Detroit). Designing cars and running a car company is such a cool idea for a computer game!

I've played this before, never being able to design an engine more powerful than 4cyl/25hp, and now I find out the game finishes in 1930, I don't think I'll bother, I wanna get to the 70's and design Ferrari and Lotus-a-like cars!

[laiocfar]

Learn german?
unluckly i dont nothing of this wonderfull game gettimg recoded

[Guest]

Hello !

This is really a great game. thx.

About the "bug" with engines in the english version:
I was quite woried about that, but i just managed to develop 6cylinder 30-40hp and 40-50hp engines in year 1905
so i am looking forward that i can overcome the "bug" :)

[laiocfar]

Even at max reserch speed, some items need time to be avaible to denvelope.

[Goran]

Hello!

I've just been looking into this engine issue and pretty much figured out how to h4><><0|2 motor city files. Apparently, this version does not contain any engine stronger than 48HP so its not actually a bug, but lack of content(presuming that there are more engines in the german version).

If anyone has a PC copy of Oldtimer, and it contains more engines, I believe I could make a patch that would transfer these to the english version. All I would need is the 'game.stc' file, or its equivalent in Oldtimer.

Cheers!

Edit: I've tested it out...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/brownbeard/v200.png

There! I managed to add an entirely new engine to the game. The engine issue can be adressed by transfering the data from the german version, or by creating a mod that would add additional engines to the game. I've pretty much figured out how (not that complicated, all you need is a hex editor), now its just the data.

[laiocfar]

Great!
Can you made a futher explanation about it?

[_r.u.s.s.]

i have -tried- to search through some german abandonware sites but i found no oldtimer for download. maybe any deutsch talking user could search for it?

[Goran]

Alrightee, heres the engine stuff, I've made an example for the first engine in the game which you can either invent or acquire from third parties, Victoria(the game renames it to E1 once you acquire it)

First take a look at its stats ingame:

<div align="center">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/brownbeard/motorcityengine2.png</div>

Now to the h4><><0|2 p4|2+.

In the game data files(the relevant file is called 'game.stc' and is located in the GFX folder of motor city) or in your savegame ('game#.gam' where # is the ordinal number of your savegame slot, also located in the GFX folder) this engine looks like this:

<div align="center">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/brownbeard/motorcityengine.png</div>

Now to decipher what is what:

1 - code of the image used for the engine sheet
2 - ordinal number of engine
3 - length of engine name
4 - engine name
5 - year made available (6807 -> 0768 -> 7x256+6x16+8x1 = 1896, for those unfamiliar with hexadecimal base, if such exist here :D)
6 - Engine HP (0500 -> 5HP)
7 - RPM (8002 -> 640RPM)
8 - Steel used for production (0A->10 steel per unit when producing part)
9 - Number of cylinders (01->1 Cylinder)
10 - Weight (B300-> 179kg Engine Weight)
11 - Cubic capacity (540B -> 2900 ccm)
12 - Engine price (E7 -> 231,- one is game default, the other is your factory price)
13 - Sales and consumption stats (irrelevant for moding, just dont let these fields confuse you when fixing ongoing games)
14 - Production time (the smaller this value is the faster the component is produced(more units per month), and vice versa)
15 - Research time (FFFF means the component is not researched, 0000 means it is known, anything inbetween indicates ongoing research)

Other than that... the game database currently contains 25 engines:

1 Cylinder, 5HP - Victoria(5HP,1896), Daimler(4HP,1894), Decauville 4(4HP,1898), Fiat 4(4HP,1899)
1 Cylinder, 10HP - Cadillac 7(7HP,1903), Renault 10(10HP,1903), OTAV(6HP,1905)
2 Cylinder, 10HP - Lanchester(8HP,1897), Renault 6(6HP,1901), Fiat 8(10HP,1901), Ford 8(8HP,1903), Renault 9CV(9HP,1906)
2 Cylinder 15HP - Renault 14(14HP,1901), Opel 12(12HP,1902)
2 Cylinder 25HP - Buick 22(22HP, 1907)
3 Cylinder 15HP - Clyde 14(14HP,1906)
4 Cylinder 20HP - Fiat 16(16HP,1902), Fiat 20(20HP, 1906), Gaggenau(20HP, 1907)
4 Cylinder 25HP - Peerless 24(24HP,1904), Rolls-Royce 25(25HP,1905), Fiat 24(24HP,1907)
6 Cylinder 25HP - Albion A6(24HP, 1906)
6 Cylinder 40HP - Rolls-Royce 36(36HP, 1907)
6 Cylinder 50HP - Rolls-Royce 48(48HP, 1907)

And there are another 135 slots empty that could be modded to add new engines. ;)

As much as I've figured it out, the game lets you research only one engine from a category, thus, 14 out of 25 engines are redundant and you can actually use only 11 engines, so the current engine research tree looks like this:

1896 - Research 1 Cylinder 5HP
1897 - Research 2 Cylinder 10HP(or wait to 1901 for best model)
1901 - Research 2 Cylinder 15HP
1902 - Research 4 Cylinder 20HP(or wait to 1906 for best model)
1903 - Research 1 Cylinder 10HP
1904 - Research 4 Cylinder 25HP(or wait to 1905 for best model)
1906 - Research 3 Cylinder 15HP, 6 Cylinder 25HP
1907 - Research 2 Cylinder 25HP, 6 Cylinder 40HP, 6 Cylinder 50HP

[Eraxor]

Hi there,

do you still need the german game.stc file? Here it is. I have just installed the game and haven't started it yet. (Had to zip the file. This forum doesn't allow .stc files to be uploaded...)

Could you probably make an entire list of all engines in the game? Would save a lot of time...

[Goran]

I havent logged in here in ages, and then something told me to pop by and check up on this thread... thank you Salma Hayek!

Alrightee, I've checked the file out... it is not directly compatible with the english version but the data is there... and after a bit of tweaking I've managed to transfer it into the english version game.stc.

I've attached the zipped file for the english version, the one available here on Abandonia. I believe it is fixed, but I have not yet tested it fully. It should work flawlessly, but there's always a chance something else is still bugged.

The game now has 80 engines instead of 25, just extract the game.zip attached here into the gfx folder of your motor city game.

As soon as I get a chance, I'll look into what those other engines are and their details, if any of you need spoiling. ;)

Thanks for the file mate, have fun!

[Sebatianos]

This acctually looks like great additions ot the game! Would you guys mind if we add them into extras of the game (to be downloadable from the main site - so you wouldn't have to search for them in the forum).

Who should be credited if we do so?

[Goran]

By all means, but please try it out first, everything should work but its not tested yet.

As for credits, I believe the laurels go to Salma Hayek, the muse of inspiration.

[Goran]

Complete list of added engines, 1908-1929:

1 Cylinder, 15HP - Renault 15 (15HP,1908)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Opel 18 (18HP,1908)
4 Cylinder, 25HP - Ford T (21HP,1908)
4 Cylinder, 25HP - Germain 22 (22HP, 1908)
4 Cylinder, 40HP - Benz 35 (35HP, 1908)
2 Cylinder, 10HP - Humber 8 (1909, 8HP)
4 Cylinder, 10HP - Peugeot 10 (1909, 10HP)
2 Cylinder, 10HP - Riley 10 (1909, 10HP)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Fiat 16 (1909, 16HP)
4 Cylinder, 40HP - Fischer 33 (1909, 33HP)
6 Cylinder, 70HP - Rolls-Royce (1909, 65HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Fiat 15 (1910, 15HP)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Renault 20 (1910, 20HP)
4 Cylinder, 30HP - Bianchi 30 (1910, 30HP)
4 Cylinder, 40HP - Fiat 32 (1910, 32HP)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Gregoire 18 (1911, 18HP)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Wolseley (1911, 20HP)
4 Cylinder, 85HP - Lancia 80 (1911, 80HP)
4 Cylinder, 10HP - Singer 10 (1912, 10HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Rover 12 (1912, 12HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Renault 14 (1912, 14HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Adler 15 (1912, 15HP)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Fiat Zero (1912, 19HP)
4 Cylinder, 40HP - Cadillac 32 (1912, 32HP)
4 Cylinder, 10HP - Peugeot 10 (1913, 10HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Apollo 12 (1913, 12HP)
4 Cylinder, 70HP - Lancia 70 (1913, 70HP)
4 Cylinder, 50HP - Alfa 49 (1914, 49HP)
6 Cylinder, 70HP - Arrow 70 (1915, 70HP)
6 Cylinder, 25HP - Buick 25 (1916, 25HP)
4 Cylinder, 25HP - Fiat 23 (1919, 23HP)
4 Cylinder, 20HP - Citroen 18 (1919, 18HP)
4 Cylinder, 30HP - Fiat 30 (1919, 30HP)
4 Cylinder, 50HP - Pic Pic 50 (1919, 50HP)
4 Cylinder, 25HP - Oldsmobile 22 (1920, 22HP)
8 Cylinder, 25HP - Darracq 25 (1920, 25HP)
4 Cylinder, 10HP - Renault 10 - (1921, 10HP)
2 Cylinder, 20HP - Berliet 16 (1921, 16HP)
4 Cylinder, 40HP - Mercedes 40 (1921, 40HP)
4 Cylinder, 50HP - Fiat 46 (1921, 46HP)
4 Cylinder, 60HP - Austro Daimler (1921, 60HP)
6 Cylinder, 85HP - Napier 82 (1921, 82HP)
1 Cylinder, 10HP - Austin 7 (1922, 7HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Citroen 11 (1922, 11HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Austin 12 (1922, 12HP)
6 Cylinder, 85HP - Fiat 80 (1922, 80HP)
6 Cylinder, 85HP - Alfa 84 (1922, 84HP)
8 Cylinder, 100HP - Duesenberg 88 (1922, 88HP)
4 Cylinder, 10HP - Renault 6 (1924, 6HP)
4 Cylinder, 15HP - Opel 12 (1924, 12HP)
6 Cylinder, 25HP - Renault 22 (1925, 22HP)
4 Cylinder, 25HP - Fiat 22 (1925, 22HP)
4 Cylinder, 30HP - Fiat 27 (1926, 27HP)
6 Cylinder, 50HP - Fiat 46 (1926, 46HP)
6 Cylinder, 25HP - Rolls Royce 25 (1929, 25HP)

[Sebatianos]

Gorane, which DOSBox version are you using? I'm using 0.71 and when I use your file the game crashes (a get a pink screen - disorted graphics) and then the thing shuts down.

[Guest]

The latest, 0.72. I've never used 0.71, worked fine on the one before that was around for ages... 0.63, or so.

[Goran]

I've tried it again, everything works just fine. When do you get this crash?

Anyone else experiencing similar problem? Anyone else managing to run it without problem. 8 downloads... give us feedback people!

[KevinTMC]

Thanks to Goran for putting together the expanded engine file. I'm off to try it now!

As I've been getting into the game the past few days, I've collected some questions that I didn't see addressed here or in the translated manual made available on HotU. Perhaps someone here knows?

1) What would be the purpose of building more/bigger Research buildings?

2) What would be the purpose of building more/bigger Administration buildings?

Edit: The manual file available on HotU notes, cryptically: "Bigger Administration resp. Research Department: Small image growth." ???

3) It seems to me that the only difference between the "Production" and the "Production+Storage" classes of buildings is that the latter can be switched from production to warehouse and back. With the prices not that much different for similar sizes, is there any advantage I'm not seeing to choosing the plain "Production" ones?

4) Is there any limit to how many of each item a warehouse can hold, or only a limit to how many different items it can hold?

5) Does one need to leave lots of pathways between the buildings? And how can one tell if supplies are going to have trouble getting from one building to another?

6) When you get offers on, or start researching, chassis or engines, does it matter whether you select small, mid-size, or luxury car? Or is the body the only part where this makes a difference?

7) Any insight on the best way to split the advertising budget? (Me, I just took a wild guess and set every branch to 30%/50%/20%.)

8) With parts, what numbers are better or worse? I have presumed that: for body, less weight is better; for chassis, more carrying capacity is better; for engine, less weight is better, more HP is of course better, and cylinders and RPM and cubic capacity are not really important. Is this right?

9) Any reason to not give a prototype the maximum number of gears possible?

10) Is there any point to test driving a new model? I find it awfully tedious, and I don't learn anything about the prototype from it.

That's all I can think of for the moment. Or at least I'll make myself stop thinking of new questions now. :tomato:

P.S. Someone upthread asked if there are any new games in this genre in the pipeline. I know of one independent developer--well, a one-man freeware outfit actually--who is working on one. The author of GameBiz and GameBiz 2--bare-bones games yet strangely addictive--is in beta on "CarBiz:Megacorp". His website (http://www.veloci.dk/gamebiz/) has a link to the game's forum and other information.

[rbfowler9]

Hey there,

3) It seems to me that the only difference between the "Production" and the "Production+Storage" classes of buildings is that the latter can be switched from production to warehouse and back. With the prices not that much different for similar sizes, is there any advantage I'm not seeing to choosing the plain "Production" ones?

Yes. Production+Storage facilities tend to be larger than just Production ones, therefore, for the same physical space you can have either more storage space, or more production lines installed. For example, the largest Production+Storage building has 8900 sq. m. available, whereas the largest Production building has 8500 sq. m. available; so you can push some more production lines onto a P+S building.

4) Is there any limit to how many of each item a warehouse can hold, or only a limit to how many different items it can hold?

Yes there is a limit on the stored volume. I don't know exactly how each item is calculated, but for example I have a 8900 sq. m. storage building where I store only steel (yes I need that much steel, my monthly usage is about 180k units). Anyway, it holds ~425k units of steel

5) Does one need to leave lots of pathways between the buildings? And how can one tell if supplies are going to have trouble getting from one building to another?

No, you can fill up the whole map if you want.

6) When you get offers on, or start researching, chassis or engines, does it matter whether you select small, mid-size, or luxury car? Or is the body the only part where this makes a difference?

For engines, AFAIK, no. For chassis, yes. I had in the past situations where the research guy wouldn't want to research a 15HP chassis for a small car, but accepted researching a 15HP chassis for a middle-ranged car.

7) Any insight on the best way to split the advertising budget? (Me, I just took a wild guess and set every branch to 30%/50%/20%.)

I use 50/40/10 in all my branches.
Actually, reading from other posters, It seems that I'm on a different sales methodology.
I price my cars usually 2.5X the building costs for small cars, 3X for middle-ranged cars and 5X for luxury limousines. It's 1906 now and I grossed about $40m last year, selling about 1500 cars a month, being 1100 small cars, 350 middle-ranged cars and 150 limos - I sell only one of each model at a time.
Also, I have lots of branches across all countries (5+), and I offer a 20% discount for dealers in each region. Still, I spend no more than $3k on advertising. Surprisingly, even grossing as much as I said before, my market share never leaves the 3-4% mark, albeit my company image is always "very sunny"

8) With parts, what numbers are better or worse? I have presumed that: for body, less weight is better; for chassis, more carrying capacity is better; for engine, less weight is better, more HP is of course better, and cylinders and RPM and cubic capacity are not really important. Is this right?

Yes, CCM and RPM are of no real usefulness. Anyway, you'll always want to match a chassis with a compatible-powered engine -- no need for a 15HP chassis when all you have are 8HP engines. Also, it's important to keep an eye on the total weight, body included. Especially in the beginning, you can build cars that actually yield faster maximum speeds with a combination of voiturettes + chassis 5hp + E 2 cyl 4 Hp, because they are very lightweight (the engine weights only 66kg), than if you were using any 10hp + 8hp engine. Top speed sells, keep that in mind =)

9) Any reason to not give a prototype the maximum number of gears possible?

I don't seem to find any reason, too.

10) Is there any point to test driving a new model? I find it awfully tedious, and I don't learn anything about the prototype from it.

No, only if you want to practice for a race event...... What makes no sense at all, again, because race events are a steal: Your competitor's times are always > twice of your lap times.
Anyway, the test drive doesn't tell you nothing about your cars except for the actual maximum speed.

That's all I can think of for the moment. Or at least I'll make myself stop thinking of new questions now. :tomato:

P.S. Someone upthread asked if there are any new games in this genre in the pipeline. I know of one independent developer--well, a one-man freeware outfit actually--who is working on one. The author of GameBiz and GameBiz 2--bare-bones games yet strangely addictive--is in beta on "CarBiz:Megacorp". His website (http://www.veloci.dk/gamebiz/) has a link to the game's forum and other information.
[/quote]

I can't think of any other else, apart from Detroit, but then Detroit has the issue of being way too easy, even in the hardest difficulty level.
Anyone willing to spend some free time in starting a project like this? I have some ideas, I can code and I can do gfx...

Seeya
Fowler

[jim3]

ok i really need help nobodys idea is working all of them dont help i need money really fast and im just not getting these plans any ideas that give me exact data to help me.

[Johann]

How to I take the revolver out of my top drawer and go and shoot my research guy in the behind for being such a condescending a-hole. I'm supposed to be the boss, which means I tell HIM what to do!

By the way, nice effort on the recoding. Now we need someone to go in and fix all the spelling and grammatical errors!

[KevinTMC]

After more playing, I've managed to answer one of my own questions.

The larger Research building appears to research faster (with the same number of engineers per slot, and the same total number of slots, as the small building).

Now if I could only take up Johann's suggestion and force my researchers, at gunpoint, to finally make me that 25HP small chassis...

[ouyang]

I've attached the zipped file for the english version, the one available here on Abandonia....The game now has 80 engines instead of 25, just extract the game.zip attached here into the gfx folder of your motor city game.


I cannot see any link for downloading the attachment. :( Can anyone help me?

I'd really like to test Goran's patch.

Thx

[sodesfeux]

I cannot see any link for downloading the attachment. :( Can anyone help me?

I'd really like to test Goran's patch.

Thx

Same here. Pleeease help :) !

[navdhanju]

What do i need in order to play this game?

Im running WinXp.

Thanks

[Mighty Midget]

You need DOSBox or VDMSound, both downloadable via Abandonia.

(Hint: On the game page, there are these "compatiblility icons" that tells you if a game has been successfully ran in XP, VDMSound, DOSBox or pure DOS. Mind you, they only mean that someone managed to run the game in that environment, but if it says DOSBox or VDMSound, you can feel pretty safe it will work for you too.)

[bduddy]

Same here. Pleeease help :) !
Anyone? The link is not on the game site, and from what I could read, Goran's file fixed that massive "bug"...

[The Fifth Horseman]

All attachments were lost during the forum move.
Send Goran a PM and politely ask him to re-upload the file.

[georgiemcross]

"All attachments were lost during the forum move. "
That's a pity'

I've politely asked Golan for the file. Let's see, what happens.

George

[Lera]

I really hope this patch gonna be posted :(

[braintheboss]

I havent logged in here in ages, and then something told me to pop by and check up on this thread... thank you Salma Hayek!

Alrightee, I've checked the file out... it is not directly compatible with the english version but the data is there... and after a bit of tweaking I've managed to transfer it into the english version game.stc.

I've attached the zipped file for the english version, the one available here on Abandonia. I believe it is fixed, but I have not yet tested it fully. It should work flawlessly, but there's always a chance something else is still bugged.

The game now has 80 engines instead of 25, just extract the game.zip attached here into the gfx folder of your motor city game.

As soon as I get a chance, I'll look into what those other engines are and their details, if any of you need spoiling. ;)

Thanks for the file mate, have fun!
Where I download this modified zip.? Thanks...

[Luchsen]

Read the prior posts. File got lost; waiting for Goran (or someone who downloaded it) to supply it again.

[Torrente]

Hi everyone I would like to praise the makers of this page because it is :nuts:.
Now the real problem I am addicted to motor city for 2 months and I was starting and finishing the game for 10 times because it is so good even with the engine bug. So coooome oooon gooooran, weeee neeeed yooouuu gooooran, weeee loveeeee yoooouuuu gooooran upload the file gooooran

[Goran]

I believe this was it, not 100% sure(dont even have a hex editor on new machine), but it should be it. Haven't logged in here in ages and looke what we have here... an emerging cult. Now I know how Tyranthraxus felt like in good old gold box titles.

[bduddy]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

[_r.u.s.s.]

i have added it to the extras on the main site. you are famous now=P

[Torrente]

Thanx a lot Goran BTW pozdrav iz Dubrovnika. P.S. ako ti treba srediti za 50% nizu cijenu apartman za ovo ljeto javi

[Canek]

I believe this was it, not 100% sure(dont even have a hex editor on new machine), but it should be it. Haven't logged in here in ages and looke what we have here... an emerging cult. Now I know how Tyranthraxus felt like in good old gold box titles.

First post in Abandonia, dedicated to the might of this Goran. THANK YOU!

[Curpling]

Hi, just wants to thank you Goran! Wonderfull work youve done. :D

One question, just to overwrite the old game.stc file? Dont get it to work... hmmm

[laiocfar]

Sorry, I was on freezer by sometime.... I am reading right? someone solved the motor bug?

[GoldShark]

Hello, I'm a fan of this game for years, but what happens next: upon arrival in 1921, in flat vehicle production, to get to October, will no longer receive orders from the agencies.
Then, I lose my business and my 16,000,000 in a year by not being able to sell any car more.
Help

[Unregistered10000]

hey

i have a window xp. i can't install the game to play it. the dos prompt shows up then disappear. please help.

[_r.u.s.s.]

get dosbox, a program that runs dos apps under other systems, and read readme

[Unregistered100000]

Thank you for your help it worked but their is no sound
:)

[_r.u.s.s.]

no problems

in order to get sound run "setup.exe" via dosbox, in there:
*setup output hardware for music-> soundblaster 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 or higher
*setup output hardware for digital sound-> soundblaster 2.0 compatible card->220->7->1
*exit setup and save settings

[janpeder]

Ok, I have played this game quite a lot, and now I just read through this entire thread. First, I have some things to share, and then I have some questions

1: I think it matters how many gears you put on your car (though I'm not completely sure). More gears means it takes longer to produce (assemble) each car.
2: There seems to be a correlation between worker speed and factories burning down. If you set worker speed in a production building to FAST, it is more likely to burn down. If you set speed to INHUMAN the building will most likely burn down within a few months.
3: The weight of engines seems to matter. Heavy engines take more steel to build. Thus, light engines consume the least steel in production and are thus cheaper.

Theoretically, the MAX RPM could also be an important engine parameter, because, combined with the HP parameter, it indicates the torque of the engine. High HP combined with a low MAXRPM would mean an engine with high torque. Also, high HP engines with low RPM would make less noise, which is good. However it is difficult to verify if torque and engine noise is something the car-buyers in the game care about.

Then I have some questions:
- Do anyone know if the results of car races has any influence on the game. Does winning races make me sell more cars?
- In the branch view there is a number indicating market share. I have never gotten this number above 1%. Has anyone else managed to get more than 1% market share? I think there may be a small bug here, because it seems impossible to get it above 1%.

[Oblomov]

My current game I had a market share of 11% in England and France in 1905, selling around 5000 cars a month. So I guess there is no bug.
But I usually try to sell more cars at a lower price. If your way is to sell less with a higher margin you may well stick at 1% all the time.
To keep around 10% share in later years I probably have to give up producing parts completely ... (rejecting researches and buying then from supplier)

A warning: Never have the same price for two ore more different cars in a branche. In this case the orders are bugged. Took me quite a long time to find out :(

Does anyone know if the three different controls for advertisement (newspaper, campaign, exhibitions) have any impact ?
Only thing I found out is to have the funding for advertisement at around least 5% of the sale region turnover, otherwise the sales go down.

[AdyDurn]

Ok, I have played this game quite a lot, and now I just read through this entire thread. First, I have some things to share, and then I have some questions

1: I think it matters how many gears you put on your car (though I'm not completely sure). More gears means it takes longer to produce (assemble) each car.

I've not noticed this correlation myself... having said that, most of my cars always had 3 gears, I will have a look into this and try and confirm this either way...


2: There seems to be a correlation between worker speed and factories burning down. If you set worker speed in a production building to FAST, it is more likely to burn down. If you set speed to INHUMAN the building will most likely burn down within a few months.

This I have noticed, and yes, I have to agree


3: The weight of engines seems to matter. Heavy engines take more steel to build. Thus, light engines consume the least steel in production and are thus cheaper.

Theoretically, the MAX RPM could also be an important engine parameter, because, combined with the HP parameter, it indicates the torque of the engine. High HP combined with a low MAXRPM would mean an engine with high torque. Also, high HP engines with low RPM would make less noise, which is good. However it is difficult to verify if torque and engine noise is something the car-buyers in the game care about.


One thing you have to remember is that while that is a possibility... HP (as referred to at the time this game is set) is not the same as the HP (or bhp, pf or cv, depending on your nationality) used today... the modern-day power measurements for cars you're right is worked out using the torque of the vehicle, however at the time of the game each manufacturer /guessed/ the power output of the car using the stroke length OR the cylinder bore (rarely both) or by using the gas pressure measured at the exhaust, and other measurements equally as inaccurate... while I think it's right to assume that more HPs equals more power, I would be willing to say that maxRPM has little effect on the game itself....



Then I have some questions:
- Do anyone know if the results of car races has any influence on the game. Does winning races make me sell more cars?

I do beleive it does help a lot... in the one game I ran where I didn't take part in the Motorsports I was really struggling to sell cars



- In the branch view there is a number indicating market share. I have never gotten this number above 1%. Has anyone else managed to get more than 1% market share? I think there may be a small bug here, because it seems impossible to get it above 1%.

I've managed to get this share all the way up to 40% in the past... although I was churning out cheap small cars... and a large number of them...

EDIT: Spellings

[janpeder]

Thanks for some good and in-depth answers, Oblomov and AdyDurn

-Janpeder

[Mike_B20]

My head hurts :hairpull:

What a brilliant game.
Seriously challenging getting the balance right :omg:
Save often, otherwise you'll need to start over from scratch, often.
Err on the side of caution rather than going for the bigger factories early, especially when you start producing your own parts. The smaller factories are best for parts early on. They also make balancing inventory easier.
Advice about going for historically successful models seems spot on; for my first model I went for a soft top small 5hp and couldn't sell it. The open top is the way to go first up.
Who knew capitalism was so hard? :cigar:

[AdyDurn]

I generally find for any management sim with a public opinion value, you always need to start cheap and cheerful, much later in the game I am creating large expensive cars and keeping afloat on them, hehe.

But to get to this point I was pumping out cheap cars by the thousand.

[fleabag]

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available) (http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/496)

I tried to run it and it rebooted my computer!

[The Fifth Horseman]

Then you're doing something wrong, because it's not doing that for anyone else.

[oozubek]

hi,

is there any manual still around? underdog has no more and could not find any link in the forums.

thnx in advance.

[dosraider]

The manual is still on HotU:
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/3020/hotu.png (http://img214.imageshack.us/i/hotu.png/)

[CaleyM]

I had to google motorcity.txt to find that. It is on hotud.org as opposed to homeoftheunderdogs.com.

[daffyflyer]

Im part of a team making a spiritual successor/sequel to this game.

Www.automationgame.com

[Canek]

Ohhh looks great, I'll be looking forward to play it.

[dos_junkie]

Hey there,


....I price my cars usually 2.5X the building costs for small cars, 3X for middle-ranged cars and 5X for luxury limousines. It's 1906 now and I grossed about $40m last year, selling about 1500 cars a month, being 1100 small cars, 350 middle-ranged cars and 150 limos - I sell only one of each model at a time.
Also, I have lots of branches across all countries (5+), and I offer a 20% discount for dealers in each region. Still, I spend no more than $3k on advertising.


Seeya
Fowler

Sorry for my bad english, but i have to say it: Your method to find the cournot point is suboptimal. ;)

With your method "2.5x the building costs for small cars....3x medium..." you can easily generate a loss, cause you dont pay attention to the overall costs.
If your fixed costs are too high, you can generate a loss, even when you sell a small car at 5x the production costs.



=========================
example for the optimal car price:
=========================

Lets say you have e.g. 4 factories, each produces 210 cars/month.
Every factory has 900 workers.
Every worker earns 50$/month.
Each factory has building occupancy expenses of 4000$.(= even if you fire all workers and the factory is still open it generates costs)

Overall costs of labor/month:
----------------------------
4 x 900 x 50$ + 4 x 4000$ = 3600 x 50$ + 16.000$ = 196.000$
.
.
Labor costs for 1 car:
---------------------------
196.000$ / 840 cars = 233 $
======================
.
.
.
Costs for parts for one car:
--------------------------
car engine:...200 $
chasis:........150 $
car body:.....300$
--------------------------
all parts:......650$
.
.
.
.
You have also e.g. 7 selling shops in england, 7 in germany, 10 in france, 5 in italy and 5 in austria.
The rent costs in england are 7500$ for each shop, 3800$ in germany and 5000$ for each shop in italy, france and austria.
You also advertise in every shop with 2000$.

So the distribution costs/month are:
-------------------------------------------
germany:....7 x (3800$ + 2000$) = 40.600$
england:.....7 x (7500$ + 2000$) = 66.500$
france:.....10 x (5000$ + 2000$) = 70.000$
italy:.........5 x (5000$ + 2000$) = 35.000$
austria:......5 x (5000$ + 2000$) = 35.000$
-------------------------------------------
..............................................247. 100$

distribution costs for 1 car:
-----------------------------
247.100$ / 840 cars = 294 $
=======================



soooo in the end ... ONE car cost you exact:

650$....for parts
294$....for labor
252$....for distribution (inc. advertising)
==============================
1196 $ per car
============


So if give every shop a sales discount of 20%, you have to sell your cars
at least at 1495$ to not make a loss. (1495$ - 20% = 1196$)


To max. your profit its very important to find the optimal profit margin.
I have done a little research after i bought every sales shop in europe.
At that time I had 2 models (both small cars) lets say model "A" and model "B".


Profitmargin:..................20%................ .30%..............50%
sales volume of car A:....1718.................695...............522
sales volume of car B:....1598.................1258..............459
turnover:..................6.487.000.......4.283.0 00........2.450.000
profit:......................2.438.000.......1.900 .000........1.650.000


So... a profitmargin of 20% will give you the most profit...but ONLY if:
- you own all sales shops in europe
- you have the production capacity for 1718 cars model "A" and 1598 cars model "B" (=30 Factories)
- you avertise in every sales shop with 5%-10% of your local turnover


I dont remember my costs for model "A" and "B", but lets say the overall costs for one model "A" were as mentioned (in the example before) 1196$.

So the perfect price for model "A" would be:

1196$ + 20% (profitmargin) = 1435$
1435$ (=price without sales discount of 20%)

so:

1435$ / 80 x 100 = 1794$

that means:
1794$ - 20% (sales discount) = 1435$ which is our perfect price inc a profit margin of 20%

Sorry for my bad english, and for the long explanation but i hope everybody gets ist.

greetings

dos-junkie :)

[dos_junkie2]

sorry I made a mistake :( here the correct numbers:
=======================================


soooo in the end ... ONE car cost you exact:

650$....for parts
233$....for labor
294$....for distribution (inc. advertising)
==============================
1177 $ per car
============


So if give every shop a sales discount of 20%, you have to sell your cars
at least at 1495$ to not make a loss. (1471$ - 20% = 1177$)


To max. your profit its very important to find the optimal profit margin.
I have done a little research after i bought every sales shop in europe.
At that time I had 2 models (both small cars) lets say model "A" and model "B".


Profitmargin:..................20%................ .30%..............50%
sales volume of car A:....1718.................695...............522
sales volume of car B:....1598.................1258..............459
turnover:..................6.487.000.......4.283.0 00........2.450.000
profit:......................2.438.000.......1.900 .000........1.650.000


So... a profitmargin of 20% will give you the most profit...but ONLY if:
- you own all sales shops in europe
- you have the production capacity for 1718 cars model "A" and 1598 cars model "B" (=30 Factories)
- you avertise in every sales shop with 5%-10% of your local turnover


I dont remember my costs for model "A" and "B", but lets say the overall costs for one model "A" were as mentioned (in the example before) 1177$.

So the perfect price for model "A" would be:

1177$ + 20% (profitmargin) = 1412$
1412$ (=price without sales discount of 20%)

so:

1412$ / 80 x 100 = 1765$

that means:
1765$ - 20% (sales discount) = 1412$ which is our perfect price inc a profit margin of 20%

Sorry for my bad english, and for the long explanation but i hope everybody gets ist.

greetings

dos-junkie :)[/QUOTE]

[vvomble]

perhaps i'm missing something here:

I start i build a factory and a research facility i go to the warehouse and get prototype plans for 5hp open top small car,

I then take the drawings out of the draw and start production.

along the way hiring the workers obviously.

when i start production it tells me i have no parts but i can't make parts just off the prototype plans.

i don't get how i actually produce a car


any help greatly appreciated

thanks
Ben

[Justice4Hungary]

perhaps i'm missing something here:

I start i build a factory and a research facility i go to the warehouse and get prototype plans for 5hp open top small car,

I then take the drawings out of the draw and start production.

along the way hiring the workers obviously.

when i start production it tells me i have no parts but i can't make parts just off the prototype plans.

i don't get how i actually produce a car


any help greatly appreciated

thanks
Ben

Hi Ben,

In the first couple of years, you have to build cars from imported parts. You can order sample parts with the help of the bearded guy in the warehouse. In 14 days, you receive the parts, and can check them in the Stock window of the warehouse. You should check all the engines, chassis and bodies you got, decide which you want to use, then order the necessary amount.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask!

[Sogree]

Hello fellow Oldtimer/Motorcity fans. I thought I share something I created a long time ago. I made it to get rid of the RSI task of repeatedly finding out what could be invented in a certain year. I made a list containing all the completed research projects in a certain year, accompanied with the year the research can be started. The list is build up like this:

First line: Year of availability (to produce by yourself).
Then there are 3 options: (Body name), (E)ngine of (C)hassis.

If that year a Body is available it will first list the (Body name);
the (Body name) will be followed by a '$' or 'R' with a number. The number is the last 2 digits of the year that model/engine/chassis can be (R)esearched or ($)bought. That is followed by 2 letters. The first letter is the body size: (s)mall, (m)edium or (l)arge. The second letter will be the roofshape (o)pen (s)oft or (c)losed.

Leaves the (E)ngines and (C)hassis:

a 'C' or 'E' followed by a number means (C)hassis or (E)ngine with its corresponding cylinder number. That will be followed by its corresponding horsepower. That by the year the engine/chassis is possible to (R)esearch or ($)buy. That will be followed by size: (s)mall, (m)edium or (l)arge.

In practice: The Rxx or $xx are the important numbers. In that year it is possible to give your research team an order to get started on researching the corresponding object. Meaning objects that come available in the year 1902 can be started by you in 1900.

The list is nearly complete. Meaning I tried every possible combination. But sometimes it is not clear, indicated by a question mark. So additions are appreciated.

After the first list I made a second list, listing per category what becomes available in what year.

The first list:

1893
Durybo $96 s s

1894
E1 5

1896
E1 5 $96 s
C5 $96 s
C10 $96 m

1897
Voiturettes$96 s o
^
Manchester$96 m o
E2 10 (1901 best)$96 m

1898
E2 5 $96 m144

1899
E2 5 R$97 M66

1900
Bourdette R$98? S s

1901
C5 R98 s $99
C15 R98 s $99
C15 R98 m $99
C15 R98 l $99
E1 10 $99 s
E2 10 R98 m $99
E2 15 R98 m $99

1902
Torneau R99 s s $00
C25 R99 m $00
E2 15 --- $00
E4 20 (1906 best) R98 @ $00m

1903
Hendric R99 m o $01
Cadiaco R99 s o $01
E1 10 R98 s $01
E1 10 $03 s
E2 10 R?03 m $01

1904
Peerless $03 m s $02
C25 $03 m^L $02
E4 25(1905 best)
$03 m $02

1905
Spyker R@03 m o
E1 10 R@03 s
E4 25 R@03
E6 40 R03 L

1906
Popclyde R04 M s
Dark R04 L o
Albion R04 L s
E2 10 R05 S
E4 20 R04 M
E3 20
E6 25 R04 L

1907
Guggenberg R05 L s ($07 m s)
C35 R05 m
C50 R05 L
E4 20 $06 L
E4 25 $06 L
E2 25 R05 M
E6 50 R05 L

1908
Brisar R06 M s
Gemon R06 M s
Lanchaster R06 M s
Voiture R06 L s
C90 R$06 L
E4 15 R06 s s
E4 20 R$06 s s
E4 25 $06 M s
E4 25 $08/9 s
E4 40 R$06 M s

1909
Martini R07 s o
Jumber-sport R07 s o ($07 m o)
C10 R07 s
C25 $07 M
C70 R07 L
E2 10
E4 10 $07 L
E2 10 $07 M
E4 20 $07 L
E4 40 $07 L
E6 70 $07 L

1910
Metallique R07 L s s
Brush R07 L s s
Bianchi R07 L s s
E4 15 $08 s
E4 20 $08 s
E4 20 $08 M
E4 40 $08 s
E4 40 $10 s

1911
Clemant R07 L s o
Wolsely $07 m o
Winston $07 m s
Stanley R07 m s
Bearcat R07 m o
Belleville R07 m s
Gregoire R07 m o
Modena R? R08 s s
Selabre R? R06 s o
C25 R08 m
C35 R08 m
E4 20 R08 s
E4 20 R08 L
E4 85 R08 L

1912
Singer R08 s s
Stoewer R09 s s
Rover R09 s s
E4 10 $10 s
E4 15 $10 s
E4 15 $10 m
E4 15 $10 L
E4 20 $10 m
E4 40

1913
Apollo R09 s s
Rhylard R09 m o
Minor R10 m h
Hudson R10 m s
Bebe R10 L s
C15 R10 s
E4 10
E4 15
E4 70 R10 L

1914
Woodelite R10 L o
Maxwell R12 m o
Henry R?
E4 50 R11 s

1915
C25
C50 R11 m
C70 R11 L
E6 70 R11 L

1916
C50 R12 m
E6 25 R12 m

1917
C90 R13 L

1918
Buick R14 m s
C35

1919
Classic R15 m c
C10 R15 s
C15 R15 m
C70 R15 s
E4 25 R15 s
E4 20 R15 s
E4 30 R15 s
E4 50 R15 s

1920
Tamplin R16 s s
Bouton R17 m o
Darracq R15 m c
Cowley R16 s s
Isotta R? R17 m s
E4 25 R15 m
E8 25 R15 L

1921
Berliet R20 s o
Raulant R20 s o
Oldsmobil R20 s o
Ceirano R20 s s
Dupont R20 s s
Nash Four R20 s c
Napier R20 s c
C35 R17 m
E4 10 R18 s
E2 20 R18 s
E4 40 R18 s
E4 50 R18 M
E4 60 R17 L
E6 85 R17 L

1922
Hotchkiss R21 s o
OMOA R21 s c
Lambda R21 L o
Vitesse R21 L c
Kentbury R? R21 L c
C50 R19 M
E1 10 R18 S
E4 15 R21 s
E4 15 R21 s
E6 85 R18 L
E6 85 R18 M
E8 100 R18 L

1923
Aktio R22 m o
Clement R22 m s
Ansaldo R22 m c
Alvis R23 m c
Trojan R23 m s
Superior R23 m s

1924
Austin R23 L c
Bean R23 L s
C35 R21 M
C70 R21 L
C120 R20 L
E4 10 R21 s
E4 15 R21 s

1925
Clair R23 s c
Lorraine R23 L o
Sunbeam R23 L s
Cault R24 L o
Junior R24 M s
Lagonda R24 M s
E6 25 R21 m
E4 25 R22 m

1926
E4 30 R22 m
E6 50 R22 m

1927
Studebaker R24 m s
Kinley R24 m s
Viola R? R24 m s

1928
Jean-Francis R25 s o

1929
Barcley R25 m s
Midget R25 L s
Volmoy R? R25 L c
Doulouse R? R26 s c
E6 25 R25 m

1930
Maribor R? R26 L s
Tacao R? R27 m o

1931
Invicta R27 L c
Armon R?

1935
Arnsburn R?

1936
Delahaye-sport


Some parts are available in the gamefiles but are not possible to develop (at least to my knowledge, listed below with a R?). But like I said: Additions are welcome!


Second list:

Body

1893 Durybo
1897 Voiturettes
1897 Manchester
1900 Bourdette
1902 Torneau
1903 Hendric
1903 Cadiaco
1904 Peerless
1905 Spyker
1906 Popclyde
1906 Dark
1906 Albion
1907 Guggenberg
1908 Brisar
1908 Gemon
1908 Lanchaster
1908 Voiture
1909 Martini
1909 Jumber-sport
1910 Metallique
1910 Brush
1910 Bianchi
1911 Clemant
1911 Wolsely
1911 Winston
1911 Stanley
1911 Bearcat
1911 Belleville
1911 Gregoire
1911 Modena R?
1911 Selabre R?
1912 Singer
1912 Stoewer
1912 Rover
1913 Apollo
1913 Rhylard
1913 Minor
1913 Hudson
1913 Bebe
1914 Woodelite
1914 Maxwell
1914 Henry R?
1918 Buick
1919 Classic
1920 Tamplin
1920 Bouton
1920 Darracq
1920 Cowley
1920 Isotta R?
1921 Berliet
1921 Raulant
1921 Oldsmobil
1921 Ceirano
1921 Dupont
1921 Nash Four
1921 Napier
1922 Hotchkiss
1922 OMOA
1922 Lambda
1922 Vitesse
1922 Kentbury R?
1923 Aktio
1923 Clement
1923 Ansaldo
1923 Alvis
1923 Trojan
1923 Superior
1924 Austin
1924 Bean
1925 Clair
1925 Lorraine
1925 Sunbeam
1925 Cault
1925 Junior
1925 Lagonda
1927 Studebaker
1927 Kinley
1927 Viola R?
1928 Jean-Francis
1929 Barcley
1929 Midget
1929 Volmoy R?
1929 Doulouse R?
1930 Maribor R?
1930 Tacao R?
1931 Invicta
1931 Armon R?
1935 Arnsburn R?
1936 Delahaye-sport

Chassis

1896 fahrwerk1 5
1896 fahrwerk1 10
1901 fahrwerk1 5
1901 fahrwerk1 15
1901 fahrwerk1 15
1901 fahrwerk1 15
1902 fahrwerk1 25
1904 fahrwerk1 25
1907 fahrwerk1 35
1907 fahrwerk1 50
1908 fahrwerk1 90
1909 fahrwerk1 10
1909 fahrwerk1 25
1909 fahrwerk1 70
1911 fahrwerk1 25
1911 fahrwerk1 35
1913 fahrwerk1 15
1915 fahrwerk1 25
1915 fahrwerk1 50
1915 fahrwerk1 70
1916 fahrwerk1 50
1917 fahrwerk1 90
1918 fahrwerk1 35
1919 fahrwerk1 10
1919 fahrwerk1 15
1919 fahrwerk1 70
1921 fahrwerk1 35
1922 fahrwerk1 50
1924 fahrwerk1 35
1924 fahrwerk1 70
1924 fahrwerk1 120

Engine

1896 1 5
1897 2 10 (1901 best model)
1901 2 15
1902 4 20 (1906 best model)
1903 1 10
1904 4 25 (1905 best model)
1906 3 15
1906 6 25
1907 2 25
1907 6 40
1907 6 50
1908 1 15
1908 4 20
1908 4 25
1908 4 25
1908 4 40
1909 2 10
1909 4 10
1909 2 10
1909 4 20
1909 4 40
1909 6 70
1910 4 15
1910 4 20
1910 4 30
1910 4 40
1911 4 20
1911 4 20
1911 4 85
1912 4 10
1912 4 15
1912 4 15
1912 4 15
1912 4 20
1912 4 40
1913 4 10
1913 4 15
1913 4 70
1914 4 50
1915 6 70
1916 6 25
1919 4 25
1919 4 20
1919 4 30
1919 4 50
1920 4 25
1920 8 25
1921 4 10
1921 2 20
1921 4 40
1921 4 50
1921 4 60
1921 6 85
1922 1 10
1922 4 15
1922 4 15
1922 6 85
1922 6 85
1922 8 100
1924 4 10
1924 4 15
1925 6 25
1925 4 25
1926 4 30
1926 6 50
1929 6 25

[Gergely]

I've read the problem on this forum, but I haven't found any solutions or tips.

I have built a great empire which is able to generate 1-2 million bucks a month even from only 4 markets (Austria-Hungary, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland) during the troubled times of World War. Around the end of the war, small cars just stop selling without any particular reason, everyone wants to buy middle-ranged ones and limusines. No problem, I can wait a few years producing and selling only middle- and upper-class cars... But even around 1920-22, when I can oparate my business again throughout Europe, no one is willing to buy any small cars from me, even if I design a brand new model and sell it for $ 85! What could be the reason?

[Termie]

Hello,

The German "Oldtimer" wasn´t bug-free, so they published Patch/Update v1.2 for it ~1995. But it seems that also a Patch/Update v3.0 exists, look at this picture (http://s14.directupload.net/file/u/16385/y7rtao3u_jpg.htm).

Can anyone provide this update disk, or better the disks content? This would be great! I´ve searched the web since weeks for this Update v3.0, no chance to find it anywhere.

[Teuvo]

no problems

in order to get sound run "setup.exe" via dosbox, in there:
*setup output hardware for music-> soundblaster 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 or higher
*setup output hardware for digital sound-> soundblaster 2.0 compatible card->220->7->1
*exit setup and save settings

Ok, done - how can I start the game? There are no exe-files around.

-JJ-

[The Fifth Horseman]

EXE is not the only format of DOS executable. Another one is COM.

[Pelikan]

manual in German:

http://hol.abime.net/2286/manual

Some pictures

http://www.igcd.net/game.php?id=100000328&PHPSESSID=0188696f2d6fa985c427711ac10710b0&width=1920&page=1&PHPSESSID=0188696f2d6fa985c427711ac10710b0&PHPSESSID=0188696f2d6fa985c427711ac10710b0

[Pelikan]

It would be nice to have some old engine specifications. If you are able to provide some data I can try to impement it to that file.

[Tenzu]

I found this by combing the various abandonware sites:
http://ds.old-games.com/199f3e523b/files.the-underdogs.info/motorcity.txt

If that link doesn't work (it may be classified as a download for some reason), then you can find it by using this link instead:
http://www.old-games.com/download/4346/motor-city

This is only the portion of the manual about the game itself. It doesn't include any of the historical information. I have to admit, it's not as informative as I hoped. However, since others have asked for it, I thought I would share the link .

[XavierVelo]

Does anybody know if there is English CD-ROM version of Motor City? Almost every abandonware site have floppy version (about 15M), and there is also German version - Oldtimer (about 94M). Was Motor City ever released on CD-ROM? Or was it floppy only?

[Maktor]

This game is still one of the best tycoon games. I would definately buy a remake with similar complexity and scale, though preferably with a more interesting mid/late game :)
I play with the fix from Goran. However now all orders, both from dealers and branches, have the discounted price! Anyone now how to fix this?

[Ace1234]

Hey there great game by the way. I'm a big car lover and was looking for something like this. Only problem is when I added the file and replaced the old "GAME" file with the Goran file, I didn't get any new engines in the game when I reloaded my save file?

Do you need to start a completely new game for it to work?

Shouldn't make a difference, or should it?

FYI I'm in mid 1910 right now. Tried to research 4 cylinder 40 HP, and the 65 HP, 6 Cyl, but the research engineer keeps telling me it's a stupid idea.

Based on the post (10 years ago I might add) those engines should be available by now.

4 Cylinder, 40HP - Fischer 33 (1909, 33HP)
6 Cylinder, 70HP - Rolls-Royce (1909, 65HP)

If anyone can help that would be awesome. I would kind of hate having to restart to a new game, since I'm doing so well already.

[Guest]

When I try the idmas.exe it keeps asking me "On which drive you have installed MOTOR CITY? (C,D,E..):".

There is no way to continue, even typing any letter.
Now, years later, I had the same problem. Driving me nuts.
Turns out that my unpacker under linux unpacked it incorrectly and did not preserve directory structure correctly.
Once I fixed it, everything worked fine. Just one letter (usually C) will do.

There should be only few files under root and most of them under GFX and LEVEL

drwxrwxr-x 2 12288 nov 16 10:29 GFX
drwxrwxr-x 2 4096 nov 15 15:13 LEVEL
-rw-rw-r-- 1 696680 okt 6 1994 ICVFX.D01
-rw-rw-r-- 1 696680 okt 6 1994 ICVFX.D02
-rw-rw-r-- 1 64 nov 16 10:29 IDMAS.CFG
-rw-rw-r-- 1 127570 okt 6 1994 IDMAS.DAT
-rw-rw-r-- 1 212384 juuli 6 1995 IDMAS.EXE
-rw-rw-r-- 1 46555 märts 29 1995 MFDNS.DRV
-rw-rw-r-- 1 5 nov 15 15:13 OLD.CFG
-rw-rw-r-- 1 36557 märts 29 1995 SETUP.EXE

[Termie]

this zip-archive is incomplete! It doesn´t neither contain "INSTALL.EXE" ("SETUP.EXE" is only for the sound setup!) nor the "OLD.EXE" (game-exe).